Art Tours are a vital (and vibrant) aspect of the Associates’ fundraising efforts in support of the Gallery, providing travelers with art-focused opportunities to experience fascinating destinations with an expert. The Gorgeous Georgians trip was Dr. Berry’s third Art Tour for the Associates, following successful trips to France and Spain. Previously, Barry Till, AGGV Asian Art Curator Emeritus, has led visits to Japan, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Laos, Viet Nam, and Cambodia. Written by Larissa Ciupka, Gallery Associates.

It’s not every day that a group of Gallery Associates finds themselves camped out in front of the Gallery on a Thursday morning before it opens. And yet there we were: eager to secure one of only twenty spots for Those Gorgeous Georgians, a 12-day May 2026 art tour exploring the art and architecture of Georgian and Regency England with Dr. Melissa Berry, art historian and university professor at the University of Victoria.

As explained in one of Dr. Berry’s dynamic pre-tour lectures, life for the upper classes in Georgian England revolved among three seasons: the London season, which they spent in the capital at balls and gatherings (often looking to marry off their children advantageously); time at their vast rural estates where they reshaped the surrounding grounds to look more “natural;” and finally, a period of recuperation and taking of the waters at spa towns.

With golden light pouring in through the windows overlooking Bath Abbey Square, our travelers prepare to tuck into high tea.

Our tour followed a similar path, with the first five nights in London exploring elegantly appointed art-filled London mansions, including Spencer House, Kenwood House, and Hertford House (home of the Wallace Collection); taking in Kew Gardens; and enjoying a delightful side jaunt to Brighton to experience the Prince of Wales’s wildly colourful fever dream of a palace.

Getting up close and personal at Kenwood House with Self-Portrait with Two Circles. One of the most imposing of all Rembrandt’s self-portraits, the painting shows the artist simply dressed in work clothes and holding the tools of his trade.

We next left the hustle of London behind and travelled into the Derbyshire countryside for two nights, visiting Kedleston Hall, Lyme Park (site of Darcy’s infamous wet shirt scene in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries), and Chatsworth House, all the while marvelling at Georgian landscape architecture without and and magnificent art-festooned rooms within.

A gilded nineteenth-century harp in the Entrance Hall at Lyme Park proves irresistible.

Our final stop was that quintessential Georgian spa retreat, Bath, where we spent four nights enveloped in the city’s golden glow. As we admired the world-famous facades of the Royal Crescent and the Circus, we could easily imagine the upper-crust Georgians hard at work conspicuously performing their wealth for their neighbours, even if they didn’t have it. The tour also allowed us to explore the world of Georgian literary giant Jane Austen. We experienced Jane’s Bath and ventured further afield to other destinations important to her life and literature: Lyme Regis, Chawton, and Winchester.

All in all, Those Gorgeous Georgians was an extraordinary tour well worth the wait in line!

 

By Larissa Ciupka, Gallery Associates

If you’re interested in learning about upcoming Art Tours, please email AAGGVtours@gmail.com. Kindly note that Gallery Associates receive priority registration. For more information about joining the Associates, please visit the AGGV website.
LEARN MORE

 

Feature Image: Tour-goers take in the ceiling and chandelier décor inside the Banqueting Room at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Built as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV), the complex’s design reflects the nineteenth-century British fascination with South Asian architecture.